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GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE 


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Qi-IMPSES 
THE 

E/ENLY 
^  LIFE 

By 

J.R.IVIILLER.D.D. 


AUTMOR- 

"^iLEiNT  Tim £5" 

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Mew  YOCir^:  ThOMAS  Y.  CROW6Lb  &  CP 


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Copyright,  1007  and  1008, 
By   THOMAS   Y.    CROWELL   &   CO. 


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Maisty  look  out  longingly  toward  another  life,  in 
which  they  implicitly  believe,  yet  of  which  they 
can  know  nothing  save  in  the  dimmest,  most 
shadowy  way.  Loved  ones  are  taken  from  them 
into  that  strange  land,  and  they  long  then  more 
than  ever  to  know  about  the  country  that  is  the 
new  home  of  their  friends  —  its  beauty,  its  joys, 
its  fellowships,  its  occupations.  The  Bible  does 
not  lift  the  veil,  but  it  gives  many  glimpses  of  the 
heavenly  life.     It  is  the  purpose  of  this  little  book 

to  note  some  of  these  glimpses. 

J.  R.  M. 
Philadelphia,  U.S.A. 


3 


Or\/fl  >i  /•  rfe 


"  O  Thou  who  never  tak'st  from  Thy  beloved, 
Except  to  give  them  more, 
When  most  is  gone  from  our  sweet  earthly  good, 
Then  most  Thou  hast  in  store. 

"  No  aching  heart  nor  empty  arms  again; 
For  through  these  passing  hours. 
Safe  in  Thy  home  and  free  from  every  stain. 
Are  Thy  beloved  and  ours." 


.  ' '.' 


GLIMPSES   OF   THE    HEAVENLY 

LIFE. 


Heaven's  gates  never  open  outward.  Count- 
less multitudes  enter  them,  to  look  upon  the  glories 
within,  but  none  come  back  to  report  to  us  what 
they  have  seen.  We  often  wish  we  might  look 
upon  the  beauty  of  the  heavenly  home  to  see  what 
it  is,  but  our  wish  cannot  be  granted.  Only  a 
thin  veil  separates  heaven  from  earth,  but  that 
veil  is  impenetrable.  ISTo  natural  eye  can  see  the 
things  that  are  spiritual.  Once  when  the  servant 
of  Elisha  was  dismayed  to  find  his  master  sur- 
rounded by  a  company  of  the  enemy's  soldiers, 
his  eyes  were  opened  and  he  saw  an  inner  guard 
of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire,  round  about  Elisha. 
The  angels  were  not  summoned  there  that  moment 
to  impress  the  young  man  with  his  master's  safety, 
nor  was  the  vision  he  saw  merely  a  vision,  with 
no  corresponding  reality.  His  eyes  were  opened 
for  a  moment,  that  he  might  have  a  glimpse  of  what 
was  always  there  unseen. 


<  i  <      I 


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6        GLIMPSES  Of  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

If  our  eyes  were  opened  to  see  spiritual  things, 
a  wonderful  splendor  would  appear  on  every  side. 
Heaven  lies  about  us,  not  only  in  our  infancy,  but 
always.  Yet  we  cannot  see  it.  All  we  can  know 
of  it  is  told  us  in  words  which  are  pictures  only, 
revealings  of  heavenly  things  in  earthly  language. 
We  could  not  understand  any  other  language.  The 
Incarnation  was  the  divine  effort,  so  to  speak,  to 
interpret  God  to  men  in  words  and  acts  which  they 
could  understand.  The  descriptions  of  heaven 
which  we  have  in  the  Bible  are  efforts  to  give  us  in 
earthly  language  some  conception  of  the  beauty, 
the  glory,  the  blessedness,  of  the  things  and  the 
experiences  of  heaven. 

We  need  to  train  ourselves  to  think  more  of 
heaven.  It  is  the  home  to  which  we  are  journeying, 
and  our  thoughts  should  often  be  upon  it.  We 
need  its  inspiration  and  uplifting  in  our  life. 
When  one  is  travelling  toward  his  home  on  a  dark 
night,  when  the  road  is  long  and  he  is  weary,  he 
gets  courage  and  strength  from  the  knowledge  that 
in  a  little  while  he  shall  reach  the  place  so  dear  to 
him,  where  his  loved  ones  are.  A  clear  confidence 
in  our  hearts  that  heaven  is  waiting  for  us  at  the 
end  would  make  us  braver  and  stronger  in  all  our 
earthly  experiences   of  toil,  care,  disappointment. 


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GLIMPSES   OF  TUE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.        7 

and  sorrow.  This  that  we  call  life  is  not  life  — 
it  is  but  the  way  to  life.  The  joys  we  have  here, 
sweet  as  they  may  be,  are  but  hints  and  beginnings 
of  the  full,  perfect  joys  that  await  us.  The  attain- 
ments and  achievements  of  our  earthly  experience, 
which  are  the  fruit  of  so  much  toil,  pain,  and 
struggle  are  only  the  faint  prophecies  and  promises 
of  what  we  shall  attain  and  achieve  in  the  heavenly 
life. 

We  miss  much  if  we  do  not  have  in  our  life  here 
the  influence  of  the  heavenly  hope.  A  boy  sat  on 
a  doorstep,  in  the  gatheriug  dusk  of  the  evening, 
holding  a  string  in  his  hand.  A  passer-by,  notic- 
ing the  boy's  eager  zest  and  interest,  asked  him 
what  he  was  doing  that  made  him  so  happy.  "  I 
am  flying  my  kite,"  was  his  answer.  "  Why,  I 
see  no  kite,"  said  the  gentleman,  sweeping  the 
darkening  skies  with  his  eyes.  "Neither  do  I," 
said  the  boy,  "  but  I  feel  it  pull."  We  cannot  see 
heaven  as  we  move  on  in  this  world,  but  if  it  is  a 
reality  to  our  faith,  we  can  feel  it  pull  upon  our 
hearts  as  we  toil  and  struggle  under  our  burdens. 

People  tell  us  sometimes  that  there  is  no  profit 
in  thinking  about  heaven  while  we  are  on  the 
earth.  We  would  better  give  our  attention  to  our 
duties  here  than  let  our  minds  wander  off  among 


8         GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

the  stars.  This  is  true  in  a  sense.  Gazing  into 
heaven,  trying  to  see  what  is  within  its  veil,  while 
we  neglect  the  duties  that  wait  for  us  every  mo- 
ment, is  most  unprofitable  living.  Yet  while  w^e 
do  all  our  earthly  tasks  diligently  and  faithfully, 
we  have  a  right  to  let  our  thoughts  and  affections 
fly  away  to  the  joys  that  are  waiting  for  us.  The 
vision  will  put  new  zest  into  our  hearts  for  the 
hard,  dull  task-work  that  fills  our  hands.  It  as- 
sures us  that  our  work  and  struggles  here  are  not 
vain.  In  a  little  while  we  shall  be  through  with 
all  failure,  all  disappointment,  all  sorrow,  and 
shall  be  at  home  where  every  promise  shall  be  real- 
ized, where  all  weary  sowing  shall  find  its  rich  har- 
vest, where  every  disappointment  shall  prove  to 
have  been  a  divine  appointment. 

An  oculist  advised  a  literary  worker,  who  came 
to  him  for  new  glasses,  to  go  out  on  her  porch 
several  times  every  day,  and  to  look  for  five  or 
ten  minutes  at  the  mountains  which  were  always 
in  view  in  the  distance.  "  The  far-away  look,"  he 
said,  "will  rest  your  eyes  after  your  long  hours 
with  manuscripts  and  proof  sheets.  This  will  be 
better  for  you  than  new  glasses."  The  advice 
proved  most  wise.  She  could  do  her  prosaic  task- 
work better  after  looking  at  something  lofty  and 


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GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.  9 

sublime.  We  need  the  far-away  look  to  keep  our 
spiritual  life  from  losing  its  tone.  We  have  so 
much  to  do  with  earthly  things  all  the  while  that 
we  almost  forget  sometimes  that  there  is  a  heaven 
above  us.  Our  work  here  is  so  strenuous,  so  un- 
remitting, sometimes  so  hard,  that  we  scarcely  get 
time  to  read  our  Bible  or  to  pray.  The  tendency 
is  to  gravitate  more  and  more  toward  earthly 
levels.  We  need  to  think  often  of  heaven  to 
keep  us  in  mind  that  there  is  a  heaven. 

There  is  a  story  of  a  man  who  in  youth  once 
found  a  gold  coin  on  the  street.  Ever  after,  as 
he  walked,  he  kept  his  eyes  on  the  ground,  looking 
for  coins.  He  found  one  now  and  then,  but  he 
never  saw  the  trees,  the  hills,  the  glorious  land- 
scapes, or  the  blue  sky.  The  tendency  of  our 
absorbed  business  life,  with  its  weary  grind  and 
struggle,  is  to  hold  our  eyes  ever  on  the  dusty 
earth,  causing  us  to  miss  the  sight  of  the  things 
that  are  above.  St.  Paul's  counsel  is  that  since 
we  are  raised  together  with  Christ,  we  should  seek 
the  things  that  are  above,  where  Christ  is.  A  life 
which  runs  only  along  on  the  ground,  with  no 
elevation  in  it,  no  thought  of  heaven  or  of  God, 
no  vision  of  Christ,  is  unworthy  of  a  child  of  God. 
We  should  get  time  every  day,  for  a  little  while, 


10       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

at  least,   to  think  of  God,  to  look  into  the  face 
of  Christ,  and  to  gaze  upon  the  heavenly  hills. 

The  New  Testament  gives  us  many  glimpses  of 
the  heavenly  life.  The  closing  chapters  of  Rev- 
elation contain  a  series  of  such  glimpses.  The 
seer  had  a  vision  of  "  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth."  This  probably  does  not  mean  that  the 
earth  and  the  heaven  we  now  see  are  to  be  de- 
stroyed and  a  new  earth  and  a  new  heaven  created.. 
Astronomers  sometimes  report  seeing  through  their, 
telescopes  burning  worlds,  worlds  passing  through 
a  fiery  change.  Probably  they  are  not  being  de- 
stroyed, but  only  renewed,  to  come  out  of  the  fiery 
ordeal,  at  length,  in  new  beauty.  We  may  sup- 
pose that  something  like  this  is  v/hat  is  meant  in 
this  vision  of  a  new  earth,  —  not  created  anew  but 
cleansed,  made  pure  and  holy,  all  the  marks  of  sin 
and  sin's  curse  removed.  The  golden  age  of  the 
world  is  yet  before  us.  There  are  some  people 
who  get  so  discouraged  by  the  troubles  in  their 
lives  and  by  the  sin  and  moral  failure  about  them, 
that  they  come  to  believe  that  all  things  are  going 
to  destruction.  No;  this  is  our  Father's  world. 
On  this  earth  Christ  died,  and  from  one  of  its 
graves  he  rose  again.  This  old  battered  globe  is 
to  be  made  new,  and  to  be  fashioned  into  imperish- 


^tv^i^y^^ 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.      11 

able  beauty.  Then  it  will  be  ready  to  be  the  home 
of  redeemed  and  regenerated  men.  The  work  of 
Christ  will  not  be  a  failure.  The  paradise  of 
beauty  which  was  lost  through  sin  is  to  be  re- 
stored. 

The  Bible  begins  with  a  garden  of  Eden,  as  the 
home  of  the  unfallen  man.  It  closes  with  a  holy 
city,  glorious  and  beautiful,  the  home  of  redeemed 
man.  Between  these  two  paradises  comes  a  long 
story  of  sin,  of  failure,  of  sorrow,  of  struggle,  of 
suffering,  a  story  also  of  divine  love  and  sacrifice, 
in  the  midst  of  which  stands  the  cross.  What  we 
have  in  the  closing  chapters  of  the  New  Testament 
is  a  vision  of  the  completed  kingdom  of  Christ,  the 
home  and  the  life  to  which  we  are  looking  forward 
—  the  old  heaven  and  the  outworn  earth,  made 
new. 

Take  another  glimpse.  ^^The  sea  is  no  more." 
Why  will  there  be  no  sea  in  the  new  earth?  Is 
the  sea  a  blot,  a  disfigurement,  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  ?  Would  a  sea  on  the  new  earth  take  away 
from  its  beauty  ?  We  talk  about  the  grandeur  of 
the  sea.  We  can  easily  suggest  its  advantages, 
not  only  the  physical  benefits  which,  the  earth 
receives  from  it,  but  its  commercial  value.  Why, 
in  this  description  of  the  final  home  of  man,  is  the 


12      GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE, 

absence  of  a  sea  named  as  one  of  the  elements  of 
its  beauty  and  blessedness  ? 

No  doubt  the  language  is  symbolic.  The  sea 
was  a  symbol  of  mystery.  In  ancient  days  men 
stood  upon  its  shore,  wondering  what  its  waters 
covered,  and  what  lay  beyond  it.  They  could  not 
cross  it  in  those  times,  and  could  only  guess  what 
was  on  the  other  side.  Hence  it  stood  for  mys- 
tery. Earth  is  full  of  mystery.  But  in  heaven 
the  sea  is  no  more  —  there  is  no  mystery.  Here 
life  is  full  of  strange  things  which  we  cannot 
understand,  —  questions  which  cannot  be  answered, 
providences  in  which  we  cannot  find  love,  sorrows 
which  stagger  faith.  Scarcely  a  day  passes  but  we 
hear  some  one  crying,  "  Why  ?  "  and  no  one  can  give 
an  answer.  Why  did  God  take  away  the  young 
mother  the  other  night  and  leave  the  helpless 
baby  motherless?  Why  did  he  call  suddenly  from 
earth  the  strong  man  in  the  prime  of  his  life, 
leaving  his  young  widow  to  battle  alone  with  the 
world,  and  without  human  help  to  provide  for  her 
children?  We  cannot  answer.  There  is  mystery 
everywhere.  But  in  the  life  of  heaven  there  will 
be  no  perplexities,  no  mysteries,  no  whys.  The 
darkest  providences  of  earth  will  then  be  clear. 
We   shall    see   all    untinished    things,    all    broken 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.      13 

plans,  worked  out  to  completion  and  shall  find 
love  and  beauty  where  all  saemed  mistake  and 
even  cruelty,  when  we  had  only  part  of  the  story 
before  us.  In  another  of  the  visions  of  the  book 
of  Eevelation  there  is  a  sea,  but  it  is  a  sea  of 
glass,  clear  as  crystal.  There  is  no  mystery  in  it. 
In  the  life  of  heaven  there  will  be  no  obscurity, 
nothing  uncertain,  nothing  hid,  nothing  to  perplex. 

The  sea  is  always  the  symbol  of  storm  and  strife. 
It  was  dreaded  in  ancient  times.  Every  reference 
in  the  Bible  to  the  sea  implies  fear  and  danger. 
Even  in  modern  times,  while  our  wonderful  scien- 
tific advances  have  given  us  a  sort  of  mastery  over 
it,  making  it  a  great  highway  between  nations,  the 
medium  of  commerce  for  the  world,  and  while  our 
ships  traverse  it  continually,  the  sea  is  still  wrath- 
ful in  its  power.  Think  of  its  cruel  storms,  of  its 
wrecks,  when  ships  are  broken  on  its  rocks,  of  the 
destructive  energy  that  makes  it  terrible  to  those 
who  are  exposed  to  its  fury. 

The  sea,  in  this  regard,  too,  is  an  emblem  of  life 
in  this  world,  with  its  dangers,  its  cruelties,  its 
storms  and  wrecks.  But  in  heaven  "  the  sea  is  no 
more."  In  the  new  earth,  there  will  be  no  danger, 
nothing  wild  and  terrible,  no  fierce  storms,  no  wars, 
nothing  to  hurt  or  annoy.     Here  nature  itself,  with 


14       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

all  its  beauty  and  its  gentle  ministries  is  full  of 
tragical  things  —  earthquakes,  volcanic  fires,  cy- 
clones, droughts,  deserts,  avalanches.  But  in  the 
new  earth,  nature  will  be  tamed,  all  its  wildness 
and  fury  subdued  to  quietness,  and  will  be  like  a 
lamb  in  its  gentleness  and  peacefulness. 

The  sea  also  suggests  separation.  Even  now  it 
is  a  great  and  seemingly  impassable  barrier  when 
we  want  to  get  quickly  to  our  friends  who  are 
beyond  it,  or  when  we  want  to  bring  them  quickly 
to  us.  In  ancient  times,  however,  the  sea  seemed 
to  make  an  altogether  hopeless  barrier  of  separa- 
tion when  it  parted  friends.  St.  John  was  on  the 
Isle  of  Patmos  when  he  saw  the  visions  of  Revela- 
tion, while  his  friends  and  loved  ones  were  far 
away.  The  sea  that  rolled  about  his  little  rocky 
island  seemed  to  cut  him  off  from  them  relent- 
lessly and  forever.  There  were  no  ships  passing 
every  day,  or  even  every  week,  from  country  to 
country.  In  his  exile  there  seemed  no  hope  that 
he  could  ever  see  his  friends  again.  We  can  im- 
agine St.  John,  sitting  on  the  cold  rocks,  homesick 
and  lonely,  looking  yearningly  in  the  direction  of 
his  home,  though  unable  to  go  to  it,  and  thinking 
of  the  sea  as  most  cruel,  in  that  it  separated  him 
hopelessly  from  all  that  were  dear  to  his   heart. 


GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.        15 

But  in  heaven  "the  sea  is  no  more."  Its  waters 
are  dried  up.  There  will  be  nothing  there  to  keep 
friends  apart,  or  to  hinder  their  closest  and  tender- 
est  association. 

An  aged  Christian  woman,  alone  now  in  the 
world,  with  most  of  hers  in  heaven,  said  to  a 
friend,  ''  If  I  thought  I  could  go  and  speak  to 
people  I  have  known  on  earth,  my  friends  and  my 
loved  ones,  when  I  get  to  heaven,  I  would  be  will- 
ing to  go  to-morrow."  She  seemed  to  fear  that 
heaven  will  be  a  strange  place  to  newcomers,  as 
when  one  coming  from  over  the  sea  and  arriving 
in  a  strange  city,  sees  no  familiar  face,  and  meets 
no  one  he  has  ever  met  before,  receives  no  wel- 
come, and  finds  no  love  waiting.  But  this  is  not 
the  way  it  will  be  in  heaven.  The  moment  you 
touch  the  edge  of  the  blessed  country  you  will  be 
met  by  those  who  have  gone  before  you,  and  will 
be  welcomed  home.  "  The  sea  is  no  more."  In 
heaven  there  will  be  nothing  to  separate  any  one 
from  those  he  loves. 

It  is  no  shame  to  our  hearts  to  confess  that 
among  the  dearest  things  in  heaven  will  be  the 
friendships  begun  on  earth  and  continued  there. 
These  will  mean  far  more  to  us  than  the  golden 
streets,   the   pearl   gates,   and    all    the   splendors. 


16        GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

One  reason  we  want  to  go  to  heaven  is  to  meet 
those  we  love  wlio  are  there^  and  a  great  part  of 
the  anticipated  joy  of  heaven  is  the  expectation 
of  meeting  those  who  have  grown  dear  to  us,  and 
whom  we  have  lost  awhile.  Eev.  William  C.  Gan- 
nett writes  :  — 

I  dreamed  of  Paradise  —  and  still 
Tliough  sun  lay  soft  on  vale  and  hill, 
And  trees  were  green  and  rivers  bright, 
The  one  dear  thing  that  made  delight 
By  sun  or  stars  or  Eden  weather. 
Was  just  that  we  two  were  together. 

I  dreamed  of  heaven,  with  God  so  near  I 
The  angels  trod  the  shining  sphere, 
And  each  was  beautiful ;  the  days 
Were  choral  work,  were  choral  praise  ; 
And  yet  in  heaven's  far-shining  weather, 
The  best  still  was  —  we  were  together. 


'O^ 


Heaven  is  a  place  of  love,  where  all  the  scattered 
friendships  of  earth  shall  be  gathered  up,  cleansed, 
enriched,  purified,  refined,  and  elevated,  freed  from 
all  envies  and  jealousies,  all  narrowness  and  sordid- 
ness,  and  brought  together  in  inseparable  union. 
^'  The  sea  is  no  more." 

Take  another  glimpse  of  the  heavenly  life. 
"  He  shall  wipe  away  every  tear  from  their  eyes." 
Earth's  comfort  is  very  sweet  when  it  is  accepted 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.       17 

and  allowed  to  enter  the  heart,  but  the  best  comfort 
here  is  only  partial,  and  is  always  incomplete.  The 
sorrow  remains  even  if  we  acquiesce  most  submis- 
sively in  it.  The  friend  comes  not  again,  nor  can 
we  hope  that  he  will  come  to-morrow,  or  next  week, 
and  the  best  we  can  do  is  to  consent  to  give  him  up 
and  to  go  on  without  him.  Comfort  does  not  take 
away  the  loneliness.  We  can  never  get  quite  used 
to  doing  without  him,  though  we  know  he  is  with 
God.  The  sweetest  friendships  are  shadowed,  too, 
all  along  their  days  of  gladness,  by  the  knowledge 
that  there  must  be  a  separation,  by  and  by,  and  one 
of  us  must  go  on  alone  after  that. 

"  A  little  way  to  walk  with  you,  my  own  — 
Only  a  little  way  ; 
Then  one  of  us  must  weep  and  walk  alone 
Until  God's  day." 

Earth's  comfort,  precious  as  it  is,  is  not  complete. 
It  is  only  for  a  little  while,  and  then  another  sor- 
row will  come.  But  in  heaven  God  will  wipe  away 
every  tear.  This  means  also  that  there  will  never 
be  any  other  tears.  For  one  thing,  there  will  be  no 
sorrow  in  heaven.  "Death  shall  be  no  more." 
When  we  join  hands  with  our  loved  ones  there,  we 
shall  have  no  dread  of  ever  being  separated  from 
them  any  more.     The    reunion    with  friends   will 


18       GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

wipe  away  the  tears  which  separation  from  them 
caused.  It  will  be  a  blessed  moment  when  those 
who  have  been  long  apart,  one  here,  one  there, 
meet  again.  The  gladness  of  the  reunion  will 
make  them  forget  all  the  long  years  of  separation. 
Their  new  fellowship  will  yield  such  joy,  such 
bliss,  such  fulness  of  love,  that  the  memory  of  the 
long  loneliness  and  sorrow  will  be  swallowed  up. 

But  that  is  not  all.  On  earth,  the  best  friend- 
ships are  marred  ofttimes  by  faults,  by  infirmities, 
by  imperfections  in  the  life,  and  by  rash  words  and 
unkindnesses.  Not  always  are  even  our  truest 
friends  thoughtful;  not  always  are  they  gentle. 
Somehow  many  of  us  go  trampling  with  great  iron- 
soled  boots  right  through  the  gardens  of  tender 
hearts,  treading  down  the  delicate  plants  and 
flowers.  We  do  not  mean  to  grieve  each  other; 
we  think  we  are  exceptionally  kind.  Yet,  igno- 
rantly  and  unintentionally  we  do  things  or  we 
speak  words  which  hurt  and  give  pain. 

On  the  other  hand,  some  of  us  are  very  sensitive 
and  far  too  easily  hurt  by  others.  We  misconstrue 
into  rudeness  words  and  acts  which  were  intended 
only  to  be  playful.  We  misunderstand  what  our 
friends  say  or  do,  imputing  a  wrong  motive  when 
only  love  was  meant.     Thus  it  is  that  many  friend- 


GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.        19 

ships  never  reach  their  best  possibilities  in  this 
world.  It  takes  time,  too,  for  most  of  us  to  grow 
to  the  best  in  our  friendships.  Love  is  a  lesson  to 
be  learned.  It  is  a  long  lesson,  too,  and  it  takes  a 
great  while  to  learn  it.  At  the  best  here,  in  the 
whole  of  our  life,  however  long,  we  just  begin  to 
understand  how  to  love.  But  in  heaven  we  shall 
come  together,  having  learned  the  lesson  per- 
fectly, and  shall  hnd  and  realize  friendship's  richest 
possibilities.  There  are  tears  ofttimes  in  earth's 
truest,  purest  friendships,  but  when  we  meet  in 
heaven,  God  will  wipe  away  every  tear.  We  shall 
never  hurt  nor  grieve  each  other  there. 

Another  way  in  which  God  will  wipe  away  tears 
in  heaven  will  be  by  revealing  to  us  the  bless- 
ings that  come  out  of  sorrow.  Some  one  has  been 
photographing  a  dried  tear,  as  it  appears  under  the 
microscope,  and  describes  the  exquisitely  beautiful 
forms  —  ferns,  crosses,  dainty  frost-work  —  that  are 
hidden  in  it.  Earth's  tears  are  full  of  blessings  for 
those  who  shed  them,  trusting  in  Christ  and  sub- 
mitting to  him.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  and 
suggestive  visions  St.  John  saw  in  heaven  was  of  a 
great  company  that  no  man  could  number,  gathered 
out  of  all  nations,  wearing  white  robes,  with  palms 
in  their  hands,  singing  a  song  of  victory.     "  Who 


20        GLIMPSES   OF  THE   HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

are  these  ?  "  it  was  asked.  The  guide  explained 
that  these  had  come  out  of  great  tribulation. 
"  Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne  of  God ; 
and  they  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  temple ; 
and  he  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  spread  his 
tabernacle  over  them." 

That  is,  these  bright  ones,  with  the  white  robes 
and  the  palm  branches,  had  not  come  as  one  might 
think  from  earth's  sheltered  places,  where  they  had 
never  known  a  pain  or  a  care,  where  they  had  ex- 
perienced only  the  sweetness  of  joy.  They  had 
come,  rather,  out  of  earth's  great  tribulations.  Yet 
the  hardness  of  their  earthly  experiences  had  not 
hurt  them,  had  not  dimmed  the  luster  of  their 
lives ;  rather  they  had  grown  in  beauty  and  their 
lives  had  become  more  and  more  radiant  in  the 
trials  through  which  they  had  passed.  The  bright- 
est glories  of  heaven  are  for  those  who  have  suffered 
most  in  this  world. 

Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson  tells  of  a  flower-show  in 
London,  where  all  the  flowers  exhibited  had  been 
grown  in  the  city.  He  says,  "  It  is  not  much  to 
grow  splendid  flowers  in  privileged  places, —  in 
places  where  there  is  pure  air,  sweet  light,  silver 
dew;  but  think  of  growing  palms  and  myrtles,  roses 
and  orchids,  in  dingy  courts,  in  murky  cellars,  in 


GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.        21 

mean  back  yards,  on  narrow  window-sills,  on  the 
tiles,  among  chimney-pots,  —  think  of  growing 
prize  blossoms  in  yellow  fogs,  stifling  air,  and  amid 
the  breath  of  the  million.  No  wonder  the  Queen 
went  to  see  this  exhibition;  it  was  one  of  the  most 
pathetic  of  shows,  a  splendid  triumph  over  dark 
and  hard  conditions."  So  in  St.  John's  vision 
these  noble  saints,  shining  in  white  garments  and 
bearing  the  symbols  of  battle  and  victory,  had 
come,  not  out  of  ease  and  kindly  circumstances,  not 
out  of  experiences  of  luxury,  from  cosey  homes,  from 
favored  spots  and  genial  conditions ;  rather  they 
had  won  their  nobleness  in  hard  lots,  in  fierce 
struggle,  in  sharp  temptation,  in  bitter  sorrow,  in 
keen  suffering. 

Some  of  us  grow  impatient  of  our  difficulties  and 
hardships.  We  brood  over  them  and  come  to  think 
that  we  have  not  been  fairly  dealt  with.  Some  of  us 
resent  our  trials  and  think  that  God  has  not  been  kind, 
has  not  even  been  just  with  us.  "  I  submit  to  you," 
wrote  a  young  man  the  other  day,  "  whether  I  have 
had  a  fair  chance  in  life,  whether  God's  dealing  with 
me  has  been  quite  right  and  just."  Then  he  told  of 
certain  trials  and  losses,  certain  bereavements  and 
sorrows,  certain  disappointments  and  struggles 
which  he  had  met,  and  then  of  certain  wrongs  and 


22      GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

injustices  he  had  suffered  from  those  who  ought 
to  have  been  his  friends.  The  story  was  one 
that  drew  out  sympathy.  But  in  the  light  of  this 
heavenly  vision  all  that  had  seemed  so  hard  meant 
an  opportunity  for  this  young  man  to  grow  into 
manly  strength  and  heroic  character.  Those  who 
have  the  battles  and  the  trials,  and  overcome  in 
them,  shall  wear  white  robes  and  carry  palm 
branches.  They  shall  be  among  the  victors  at 
the  last.  Nothing  noble  is  attained  easily.  The 
crowns  of  life  can  be  won  only  on  the  fields  of 
struggle. 

Thus  God  wipes  away  tears  in  heaven  by  dis- 
closing the  rewards  of  sorrow,  its  outcome  in 
nobler,  purer,  whiter  life.  "  He  shall  wipe  away 
every  tear." 

Take  another  glimpse  of  heaven.  "  I  will  give 
unto  him  that  is  athirst  of  the  fountain  of  the 
water  of  life  freely."  That  means  satisfying,  the 
quenching  of  life's  thirsts.  In  a  sense  our  thirsts 
are  satisfied  when  we  receive  Christ.  We  are  in- 
vited to  come  to  him  and  drink.  One  of  the 
Beatitudes  is  for  the  unsatisfied.  "  Blessed  are 
they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness ; 
for  they  shall  be  filled."  So  thirst  is  a  blessed 
experience.      The  man   who  has  ceased  to   thirst 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.       23 

has  ceased  to  live  and  ceased  to  grow.  To 
be  satisfied  is  to  have  reached  one's  limit  of 
growth,  for  after  that  there  is  no  longer  any  desire 
for  more  of  life  and  blessing.  Christian  life  in 
this  world  is  full  of  thirsts,  full  of  longings.  It 
never  reaches  its  best  possibilities.  However 
much  of  knowledge  we  have  gained,  if  we  are  really 
living,  we  are  ever  eager  to  know  more.  The  phi- 
losopher, after  his  lifetime  of  study  and  research, 
spoke  of  himself  as  but  like  a  child,  picking  up  a 
few  bright  pebbles  on  the  shore,  while  the  great 
deep  sea  still  lay  before  him,  unexplored.  The 
thirst  for  knowledge  is  never  satisfied. 

Nor  is  the  thirst  for  love.  Earthly  love  is  very 
sweet.  When  it  is  ideal,  it  seems  to  leave  nothing 
to  be  desired.  But  pure  and  deep  as  it  is,  there 
still  are  thirsts  in  the  heart  after  we  have  experi- 
enced human  love's  richest  and  best.  Even  divine 
grace  does  not  altogether  in  this  life  quench  the 
soul's  thirsts,  nor  satisfy  its  longings.  We  still 
have  our  cravings  for  more  and  more.  We  may 
drink  at  the  fountain  to-day,  and  go  away  rejoicing 
in  the  love  of  Christ,  but  to-morrow  we  shall  thirst 
again.  The  more  we  know  of  Christ,  the  more  we 
long  to  know  of  him.  The  fuller  and  sweeter  our 
fellowship  with  him  is,  the  more  do  we  desire  still 


24        GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

fuller  and  sweeter  communion.  The  more  we  take 
of  Christ's  life  into  our  souls,  the  more  do  we 
desire  to  be  filled  with  that  life.  From  "  some  of 
self,  and  some  of  thee,"  the  longing  grows  until  it 
is,  "  Less  of  self,  and  more  of  thee.''  Still  the 
yearning  increases,  as  God's  love  fills  the  heart, 
and  at  last  it  is,  "  None  of  self,  and  all  of  thee." 

The  writer  of  the  old  Psalm  said  he  never  would 
be  satisfied  in  this  world,  but  would  be  when  he 
looked  upon  the  face  of  God. 

"  As  for  me,  I  shall  behold  thy  face  in  righteousness  ; 
I  shall  be  satisfied,  when  I  awake  with  beholding  thy  form." 

What  the  Psalmist  knew  about  the  after-life  we 
cannot  certainly  tell.  The  Old  Testament  be- 
lievers did  not  have  the  clear  and  full  revealing 
of  immortality  that  was  made  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Yet  in  some  way,  dim  perhaps,  as  when 
one  sees  in  a  mirror  darkly,  he  believed  that  one 
day  he  would  look  upon  the  face  of  God,  and 
that  then  all  his  thirsts  would  be  satisfied.  We 
may  say  the  same  —  some  day  we  shall  be  satis- 
fied. Every  longing  will  be  answered.  We  shall 
be  filled  with  love,  with  joy,  with  peace.  But  it 
will  not  be  in  this  world.  When  we  see  Christ 
face  to  face,  and  enter  into  the  fulness  of  his  joy, 
we  shall  be  satisfied. 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.        25 

"  Not  here  !    Not  here  !     Not  where  the  sparkling  waters 
Fade  into  mocking  sands  as  we  draw  near  ; 
Where,  in  the  wilderness,  each  footstep  falters  — 
I  shall  be  satisfied,  but  oh,  not  here  ! 

"  There  is  a  land  where  every  feeble  pulse  is  thrilling 
With  raptures  earth's  sojourners  may  not  know  ; 
Where  heaven's  repose  each  weary  heart  is  stilling. 
And  peacefully  life's  time-tossed  currents  flow. 

"  Not  here,  where  every  dream  of  bliss  deceives  us, 
Where  the  worn  spirit  never  gains  its  goal ; 
Where,  haunted  ever  by  the  thoughts  that  grieve  us, 
Across  us  floods  of  bitter  memories  roll. 

"  Far  out  of  sight,  while  yet  the  flesh  enfolds  us, 
Lies  that  fair  country  where  our  hearts  abide  ; 
And  of  its  bliss  is  nought  more  wondrous  told  us 
Than  these  four  words,  '  I  shall  be  satisfied.' 

"Satisfied?     Satisfied?     The  spirit's  yearning 
For  sweet  companionship  of  kindred  minds,  — 
The  silent  love  that  here  meets  no  returning. 
The  inspiration  which  no  language  finds,  — 

"  Shall  they  be  satisfied  ?     The  soul's  vague  longing, 
The  aching  mind  which  nothing  earthly  fills  ? 
Oh,  what  desires  upon  my  soul  are  thronging. 
As  I  look  upward  to  the  heavenly  hills  ! 

"  Thither  my  weak  and  weary  feet  are  tending. 
Saviour  and  Lord,  with  thy  frail  child  abide  ! 
Guide  me  toward  home,  where,  all  my  wanderings  ending, 
I  shall  see  thee  and  be  satisfied." 

So  heaven  is  to  be   a   place   of  satisfaction.     Kg 
need  will  be  unsupplied.     No  want  will  be  uuinet. 


26        GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

No  craving  will  be  unanswered.  No  thirst  will 
be  unfulfilled.  The  voice  calls,  "He  that  is 
athirst,  let  him  come ;  he  that  will,  let  him  take 
the  water  of  life  freely." 

We  do  not  begin  to  realize  what  this  assurance  of 
the  heavenly  life  means.  Satisfaction !  Oh,  it 
is  a  hungry  word.  It  has  gone  through  the  ages 
finding  no  answer  to  its  cry.  There  are  many 
good  people  to  whom  this  world  has  not  ministered 
lavishly,  has  indeed  ministered  most  scantily. 
There  are  some  who  have  been  bitterly  disap- 
pointed in  human  love.  They  thought  that  they 
were  getting  bread,  and  it  was  only  a  stone. 
For  promised  tenderness  and  cherishing,  they  have 
had  only  neglect  and  wrong.  Instead  of  plenti- 
ful providing,  they  have  had  want,  perhaps  some- 
times hunger.  Instead  of  kindness,  they  have  had 
only  cruelty.  How  these  will  enjoy  heaven's  satis- 
faction of  loving !  What  heaven  will  mean  to 
thousands  who  have  had  so  little  of  human  love 
here ! 

There  are  those  to  whom  all  life  has  been  only  a 
disappointment,  a  failure,  an  alluring  mirage  fad- 
ing into  desert  sands.  They  have  gone  through 
the  world  with  empty  hands.  They  have  knoAvn 
little  of  joy  or  of  comfort.     An  old  woman,  who 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.       27 

had  experienced  only  want  all  her  life,  at  the 
very  best,  bareness  and  scarcity,  was  taken  by 
some  fresh-air  society  to  spend  a  day  beside  the  sea. 
Her  first  exclamation,  when  she  looked  upon  the 
ocean  was,  "  I  am  glad  that  here  is  something  there 
is  enough  of  for  everybody ! "  It  seemed  to  her 
the  first  time  she  had  ever  seen  anything  there  was 
enough  of.  Think  what  heaven  will  mean  to 
earth's  hungry  ones  with  its  bread  enough  and  to 
spare !  "  I  shall  be  satisfied  with  beholding  thy 
form." 

Take  one  other  glimpse.  As  we  read  the  won- 
derful description  of  the  heavenly  life  in  the  last 
chapters  of  the  New  Testament,  we  find  that  all 
the  glory  comes  from  Christ.  "  I  am  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end."  "  I 
saw  no  temple  therein;  for  the  Lord  God  the 
Almighty,  and  the  Lamb,  are  the  temple  thereof." 
"  The  city  hath  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the 
moon,  to  shine  upon  it :  for  the  glory  of  God  did 
lighten  it,  and  the  lamp  thereof  is  the  Lamb." 

Whatever  else  heaven  may  mean  to  us,  it  will, 
first  of  all,  mean  being  with  Christ.  Here  we  see 
him  only  by  faith,  ofttimes  dimly.  Every  day 
some  one  speaks  of  the  difficulty  of  realizing  the 
presence  of  Christ  in  this  earthly  life.     We  long 


28      GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

to  see  him.     Our  hearts  hunger  for  him.     "We 

would  see  Jesus,"  is  our  cry  all  the  days.     And 

the  answer  to  our  cry  seems  only  an  echo  of  our 

longing.  As  Tennyson  puts  it,  man  in  this  world 
is 

"  An  infant  crying  in  the  night, 
An  infant  crying  for  the  light, 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry.'* 

But  when  the  veil  of  sense  that  hides  heaven  from 
our  sight  is  rent  for  us,  some  midnight  or  some 
noonday,  and  the  blessedness  is  suddenly  revealed, 
we  shall  see,  first  of  all,  before  we  look  upon  any 
of  the  splendors  of  the  j)lace,  Him  we  have  loved 
though  seeing  him  not,  —  our  Saviour  and  our 
Friend,  Jesus  Christ.  And  he  will  wipe  away 
every  tear  from  our  eyes.  Being  with  him,  we 
shall  need  nothing  else  to  make  our  blessedness 
complete.  Seeing  him  we  shall  be  satisfied.  See- 
ing him,  we  shall  be  like  him,  changed  fully  into 
his  image.  Seeing  him,  we  shall  then  be  with 
him  forever. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  glimpses  of  the 
heavenly  life  which  the  Scriptures  give  us,  and 
even  these  are  only  glimpses,  as  when  the  window 
opens  for  a  moment  upon  the  glory  and  then 
quickly  closes  again.     Indeed  no  earthly  language 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.        29 

is  adequate  to  describe  the  blessedness,  the  joy, 
the  happiness  of  heaven. 

Perhaps  no  human  word  gathers  and  holds  in 
itself  so  much  of  the  truest  meaning  of  heaven 
as  the  word  home.  Home  is  a  place  of  love.  It  is 
a  place  of  confidence.  No  one  doubts  another  at 
home.  We  have  nothing  to  hide  or  conceal  from 
each  other  inside  home's  doors.  We  know  we  are 
loved.  Home  is  the  one  place  where  we  are  never 
afraid  of  being  misunderstood.  Our  faults  may  be 
seen  and  known,  but  we  are  dear  in  spite  of  them. 
We  find  there  sympathy  with  our  sufferings,  pa- 
tience with  our  infirmities  and  shortcomings. 
Heaven  is  home.  Into  it,  all  the  children  will  be 
gathered.  It  is  a  place  of  glory,  of  beauty,  of 
splendor,  a  holy  place,  but,  best  of  all,  it  is  a  place 
of  perfect  love. 

The  human  element  has  a  large  place  in  heaven's 
dearness  to  our  hearts.  Before  we  have  loved  ones 
there  we  are  likely  to  be  impressed  most  by  the 
majesty  and  grandeur  in  the  descriptions.  One 
writes,  "  As  a  child  I  thought  of  heaven  as  glo- 
rious, as  the  place  of  the  divine  presence,  as  full 
of  bright  angels,  with  never  ending  worship,  but 
terrible  in  its  majesty.  I  was  not  attracted  to  it, 
—  indeed  I  dreaded  to  think  of  entering  heaven. 


30      GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

There  was  no  one  there  I  knew,  and  I  would  feel 
strange,  lonesome ;  nobody  would  know  me  or  wel- 
come me.  Then  my  little  sister  died,  and  at  once 
there  was  a  new  element  in  heaven.  There  was 
one  person  there  I  knew  and  loved,  one  who  would 
greet  me  when  I  entered  the  gates.  Since  that 
many  loved  ones  have  passed  into  heaven,  and  now 
I  think  of  it  no  longer  as  cold,  stately,  and  lonely, 
but  as  warm  with  love,  full  of  human  interest,  a 
true  home." 

Heaven  is  the  place  where  our  lives  will  find 
their  completion.  It  is  the  glorious  end  that  waits 
before  us,  where  all  our  hopes  shall  have  their 
fulfilment,  all  our  dreams  their  realization.  Much 
of  our  life  in  this  world  is  only  beginnings.  We 
mean  to  do  beautiful  things,  but  when  they  are 
finished  the  beauty  is  lacking.  Our  worthy  inten- 
tions lie  as  faded  flowers  at  our  feet.  We  tried 
sincerely  and  earnestly,  and  failed.  We  struggled 
hard,  but  were  not  overcomers.  In  heaven,  how- 
ever, we  shall  find  waiting  for  us,  not  the  poor 
attainments,  the  broken  purposes,  the  sad  failures 
that  we  wept  over  on  earth,  but  the  things  we 
sincerely  tried  to  do,  —  in  finished  beauty  now,  for 
God  takes  our  intentions,  the  things  we  meant  to 
do,  the  things  we  tried  to  be,  makes   them   real 


,    '   > »    >J   »     J » 


J  ,  '    ,        J    J  )  >   ■■    ' 


J        >     ^  . 


i   i         i         )       }  >         > 


>     >     >  ) 


GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE.      31 

in  heaven,  and  fills  them  out  in  perfectness.     Of 

a  noble  woman  one  wrote :  — 

"  The  good  she  tried  to  do  shall  stand  as  if  'twere  done ; 
God  finishes  the  work  by  noble  souls  begun." 

There  ought  to  be  immeasurable  inspiration  in 
the  fact  of  heaven  as  the  culmination  and  com- 
pletion of  life.  The  hope  of  it  should  make  us 
strong  to  overcome  all  discouragement.  No  matter 
how  hard  the  way  here  is,  the  end  is  glorious.  No 
matter  the  fierceness  of  the  battle,  the  weariness  of 
the  struggle,  the  bitterness  of  the  sorrow,  the  keen- 
ness of  the  suffering, — this  is  the  final  outcome. 

We  are  now  and  here  children  of  God.  That 
should  be  glory  enough  to  cheer  and  inspire  us 
for  most  courageous  service.  But  in  this  life  the 
best  is  veiled.  It  is  not  yet  made  manifest  what 
we  shall  be  when  we  reach  the  goal  of  our  life. 
This  dull  bud  will  open,  and  a  glorious  rose  will 
unfold  in  all  its  splendor.  From  this  poor,  feeble, 
struggling  earthly  life  will  emerge  at  length  a 
child  of  God  in  glorious  beauty.  If  only  we  could 
have  a  glimpse  of  ourselves,  —  what  we  will  be  ten 
minutes  after  our  friends  say  we  are  dead,  what 
we  will  be  when  we  are  absent  from  the  body  and 
are  at  home  with  the  Lord,  could  we  go  on  living 
as  if  we  were  made  only  for  the  earth?     Let  us 


c        c     (        ort-fccit     t 

f   C         »      C     ,     C       c        "^     r  -     '        ' 


32        GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEAVENLY  LIFE. 

not  grovel  any  longer.  Let  us  not  creep  in  the 
slime  and  dust,  we  who  have  this  glorious  future. 
We  are  "but  a  little  lower  than  God"  —  let  us 
live  to  be  worthy  of  our  exalted  honor.  We  have 
not  yet  reached  the  best.  When  we  see  Christ,  we 
shall  be  made  like  him. 

We  should  remember  that  the  road  to  the 
heavenly  life  starts  in  this  world;  that  only 
those  who  have  heaven  in  their  hearts  here,  can 
be  admitted  into  heaven  at  the  last.  We  must 
receive  the  beginning  of  the  heavenly  purity,  the 
heavenly  joy,  the  heavenly  peace,  into  our  lives 
in  this  world.  In  the  Apostles'  Creed  we  say,  "I 
believe  in  the  life  everlasting."  We  must  practise 
our  belief.  Heaven  must  be  real  to  our  faith.  It 
is  real,  more  real  than  earth.  It  is  a  place.  Our 
friends  are  there,  living,  loving,  remembering  us 
still,  busy  in  the  service  of  Christ.  Let  us  make 
heaven  real  to  ourselves  —  as  real  as  our  houses, 
the  homes  to  which  we  go  when  we  come  back 
from  a  journey.  Let  us  practise  the  heavenly  life 
to-morrow  and  next  day,  at  home,  in  business,  on 
the  street.  Let  us  be  the  kind  of  people  we  would 
be  if  we  were  in  heaven. 


N 


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SEP    41983    H 

tec'd  cite  JAN  8  3  1914 


I 


20m-ll,'20 


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